Fruit basket



Patented Jan. 7, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FRUIT BASKET WilliamS. Luckett, New York, N. Y.

Application October 13, 1933, Serial No; 693,517

3 Claims. (Cl. 21'7124) The purpose of this invention is to provide ashowing the design and arrangement of the basket made of paper or paperproducts, resemhandle. bling a grape basket, having a handle adapted toFigure 2 is a side elevation of the basket. take the load from asuperimposed basket or Figure 3 is a View showing a method of packingbaskets and transmit said load to the bottom of the baskets with oneabove another and with 5 the basket thereby protecting the contentsthereeach resting upon the handle of the basket below.

of, and in which the handle is so formed that it Figure 4 is a plan viewof the cover. may readily be inserted by hand instead of re- Figure 5 isa plan of a cover of an alternate quiring a machine as is now used.design.

The invention is an open carton made of paper In the drawing the basketis shown as it would 10 or paper products or wood having a wire handlebe made wherein numeral l indicates the basket, held in the sidesthereof and extending to the numeral 2 the handle, and numeral 3 thecover.

base so that a load from an object positioned The basket I is preferablymade of paper, cardabove the basket will be transmitted directly toboard, or paper products, however, it will be the base. understood thatit may be made of wood, or 01' 15 Baskets of this type which arenormally used any material, or of any composition of mateas grapebaskets have formerly been made of rials. The sides and ends may also bemade thin wood slats and these have been shipped plain, as shown, or maybe shaped in any manwithout the handles being in place and it has rener,or may be made similar to the wooden grape quired a special machine toinstall the handles baskets now in 1158- 111 hi design the l0Wer20 inthe upper edges of the sides of the basket. edges f h sides, which areindicated y' e Other carriers of this type have been provided numerals 4and 5, are provided W pe n 6 having wood handles, however, t, is d m t tinto which the lower ends I and 8 of the handle pack these devices forshipping and it is prac- 2 may be Inserted, as Shown Figures 1 i 2,

tically impossible to improve their appearance and the upper edges ofthe sldes are Provlded 25 without using a Special lining or wrappingwith notches 9 into which extensions l0, pro- The object of thisinvention is, therefore, to Jectmg Inward from the sldes Oithe handleprovide a carrier or basket of the type used for may be placed as shownThe ends 3O grapes or the like which may be made of paper bottom of thebasket may, otherwise, be plain be made of any shape and in any design.or paper products and in whlch the handle supor may ports the sides andrests upon the base so that The basket may also be made of lectangularshape, as shown, with two long and two short ig g g gg handle W111 betransmitted dlrecyly sides, or it may be made of any other shape andAnother object is to provide a grape basket in the Sides and ends may bemade m any proportion in relation to each other. 35 \VhlCh the machinesused for installing the The handle 2 is preferably made of compamhandles are eliminated.

tively heavy wire, however, this may be made of A further oblect Is topryylde 1 1 gi g any material and the cross section of the material maybe for y frmts or e 1 c may be of any shape. In the design shown it is Imay readlly be prmyed or decorated or provlded made with a comparativelystraight central port '40 in Various color deslgns' tion H, from theends of which the material is And a Still further object is to Providegrape bent downward and inward to form projections basket manufecwrmgcost 15 l2, and from these projections the material is Stantia re bentoutward to the points l3 and then inward With theseends in View theinvention embodles to form the extensions m thereby providing 45 abasket havmg tapermg sldesj made 9 pap-er or cesses I4 above the upperedges of the basket and Paper Products Wood haYmg u from the lower sidesof the extensions II] the which may be held in Openmgs i-h g g materialextends downward forming straighttsecthe S d s, and also having a covera may 6 tions l5 and at the lower ends of these sec ions held i d e e tPositions y indentations P the material is bent inward to form the ends1 50 vided in the handle. and 8 which rest upon the base l6 of thebasket. Other features and advantages of the invention It will be notedthat with the handle formed in car from the following description takenthis manner the lower ends may readily be will app in connection withthe drawing, wherein: spread so that they may be inserted in the open-Figure 1 is a cross section thru the basket ings 6 and as soon as theyare released, they W111 55 spring back into the position shown in Figure1 in which the extensions l0 extend into the notches 9 and the sectionsl5 support the sides 4 and 5 at the center of the basket. It will beunderstood, however, that the sides or legs of the handle may be of anyother shape or design, may be arranged in any other manner, may be heldin the basket by any other means, and any other means may be providedfor holding them in the upright position. It will be noted that inFigure 1 of the drawing the sections l5 and the lower end of the handleare spaced from the walls and base of the basket in order to illustratethe construction, whereas the sections I5 actually contact the surfacesof the side walls and the ends 1 and 8 rest upon the base.

The baskets may be provided with a thin cover board 3, as shown inFigures 4 and 5, and this may be provided, as shown in Figure 5, or withcurved ends, as shown in Figure 4, and either design may be providedwith notches I! which will seat upon the projections 12 of the handle inorder to locate and hold the cover above the basket.

When the baskets are first packed, the cover 3 may be placed in theupper part of the handle, as indicated by the dotted lines l8, and inthis position it will rest upon the projections l2 and thereby protectthe fruit or other products therein. As the products settle, the covermay be removed and placed in the recesses H so that it will rest uponthe upper edge of the basket, as shown in Figure 1, and it will beunderstood that means may be provided in the handle for holding thecover in any other position or positions.

It will be understood that other changes may be made in the basketwithout departing from the spirit of the invention. One of which changesmay be in the use of any number of handles with one basket or container,another may be in the use of other means for inserting the handles inthe basket, another may be in the use of handles with shorter ends as itwill be understood that it is only necessary to extend the ends 7 and 8thru the sides 4 and 5, and still another may be in the use of othermeans for holding the cover to the basket.

The construction will be readily understood from the foregoingdescription. In use a plurality of baskets may be packed and shippednested, that is, with one basket inside of another and the handles maybe shipped independent. Before packing the baskets, or after the basketsare packed, the handles may be inserted by spreading the ends I and 8and placing them in the openings 6, as hereinbefore described, and thenthe covers 3 may be inserted in the handles. The filled baskets may thenbe packed in a carton with one above the other, as shown in Figure 3, sothat the handles will hold the upper basket and prevent any pressurewhatever being placed upon the contents thereof. The sides of thebaskets will engage the inner walls of the carton in which the basketsmay be packed which will hold them in the upright position and thehandles will keep them spaced apart.

It will be noted that by forming the handles in this manner, the handlesmay readily be inserted by hand so that it is not necessary to use amachine to form or crimp the handles in place and as the lower ends ofthe handles extend downward to the base of the basket, all load andstrain is removed from the side walls and transmitted directly to thebase. These handles also extend over the side walls and support the samethereby preventing bulging with the fruit or other products therein. Thehandle, therefore, supports the basket in all directions, and takes allupward and downward pressures or loads. This handle may also be usedwith the wooden baskets now in use or with baskets, carriers, orcontainers of any other type or description.

Having thus fully described the invention, what I claim as new anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A basket made of cardboard having sloping sides adapted to be nestedwith similar baskets having notches centrally positioned in the upperedges of the side walls and means in the lower edges of the side wallspositioned below said notches for holding the lower ends of handles, ahandle in which the lower ends are adapted to be inserted in the holdingmeans of said side walls by hand and projections adapted to be insertedinto the notches of said side walls and other projections adapted tohold a cover, the lower ends of the handle extending across the base ofthe basket and resting thereon and a cover adapted to be suspended uponthe projections of said handle and also adapted to rest upon the upperedges of the side walls of said basket.

2. A basket as described in claim 1 in which notches are provided in thesides of the cover for locating the cover on the handle.

3. In combination, a carton of the type open at the upper end, adetached removable cover adapted to rest upon the upper edges of thesides, and a handle formed substantially in a rectangle open in thecenter of the lower side and adapted to be sprung open to insert theends of the lower side in openings in the side walls of the cartonpositioned just above the base in order that the parts of the said lowerside may rest upon the base, the vertical sides of said handle havingloops extending inward into openings in the upper edges of the sides ofsaid carton, and additional loops also extending inward positioned abovethe edges of the sides of the carton upon which the cover may rest tohold the cover above the carton.

WILLIAM s. LUCKETT.

